Recording heads for use with magnetic recording media typically include a pair of magnetically coupled poles, consisting of a main write pole and an opposing pole. The main pole may have a significantly smaller surface area on its bottom surface than the opposing pole. A coil is located adjacent to the main pole for inducing a magnetic field in the main pole. Magnetic recording media used with such recording heads typically includes a recording layer having alternating magnetically hard tracks and nonmagnetized transitions. If perpendicular recording is desired, a magnetically soft lower layer will typically be located adjacent to the recording layer, opposite the recording head.
The recording density is inversely proportional to the width of the magnetically hard recording tracks. Trackwidth is primarily determined by the width of the main write pole, which is limited by the various manufacturing processes used to produce such poles. Additionally, the efficiency of the coil structure in inducing magnetic flux within the poles affects the performance of the recording head.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved recording head having a main pole that can be manufactured to narrow widths. Additionally, there is a need for a recording head having a coil structure maximizing the efficiency of inducing magnetic flux in the poles.